Garden Shed by Ville Hara and Linda Bergroth.

Oh my goodness. It feels like it takes a lot these days to stop me in my tracks, and this project did just that. I am officially blown away. Just image waking up in a glass bedroom like this, somewhere in the forrest overlooking a lake. I must say I’ve never been much for camping, but this would be a brilliant alternative with all the creature comforts (admittedly without a bathroom – but hey, there’s a whole lake there in case of an emergency…)

All photos above by Arsi Ikäheimonen.

This project is a collaboration between Helsinki architect Ville Hara of Avanto Architects (I previously blogged about them here), and designer Linda Bergroth of Hel Yes!. The pair launched their greenhouse and garden shed kit for the gardening market in 2010. Linda customised one of the prototypes to create her own summer house studio located on a distant island in eastern Finland, the photos of which you are seeing here. She added timber floors, solar panels for lighting, and entry steps and a footpath made out of reclaimed bricks.

One of the original garden shed prototypes launched in 2010.

The modular parts can be bought in 4 different variations through Kekkilä Garden in Finland and Hasselfors Garden in other Scandinavian countries.

Designers (myself included) are often guilty of getting caught up in the latest and greatest in materials, finishes, forms, feature, etc, etc, yet isn’t it so profoundly powerful to see what can be achieved with a little bit of Finnish pine, safety glass and a prefabricated frame that can be assembled with a screwdriver? This is a wonderful example of a design which is focused around the function and user experience, and nothing else. Ville & Linda, I applaud you. I wish I had one of these puppies to park on the beach this weekend…

x dana

[Discovered via Dezeen. Images via Dezeen, Avanto & Hel Yes!]